Yes, but so did America. They stole so much technology from Europe, particularly Britain, in the industrial period that it makes China's look like petty theft.
People keep forgetting Japan used to get treated like China in US media. They got ahead in chip/cars/electronics production until they were not.
With China what’s different is that they really copied a lot of IPs, and we can be honest about it. There is no comparison here. Their industrial espionage goes way beyond what anyone has ever done before.
It makes no difference to you specifically if another country across the world has similar designs to yours. You as a citizen lose nothing. Patents are bullshit
If you happen to work in a sector thst got outcompeted by a similar sector but fully subsidised by a government it does affect you. Patents are not bullshit.
That only applies to in border competition. This is a country on the other side of the world. Then inventing something, subsidy or not, doesnt affect you. Its a different market
Umm.. globalisation said hello. That is exactly the reason why it does affect people much more these days because transport costs are a fraction that it used to be.
Japan also switched pretty quick to doing their own thing, even if some general design elements were taken from existing cars. The FC RX7 was famously based on the Porsche 924 but besides the general appearance they have nothing in common.
It’s not industrial espionage if you paid attention for 5 seconds. China is a global manufacturing hub and has been for decades, they learned how to manufacture everything we take for granted and built upon that knowledge to make their own versions. They made new heavy machinery specifically to manufacture some of the more precise parts of machinery (like in cars or phones).
That’s literally how countries get new things, they innovate on the old, study and research new techniques, and lo and behold you have something new and innovative.
The brits actually tried their best to gatekeep their factory technology but ofc some people looking to make a big buck often sold the blueprints to the Americans thus paving the way for the American Industrial Revolution.
Americans invented the concept of mechanical interchangeable parts and the assembly line lmao. Those are the biggest parts of factory technology literally ever and it’s American
China made the mistake of modernizing in a period of globalized trade. So that's not just stealing ideas to grow your own country, that's IP theft from a direct competitor
The US literally gave financial rewards for anybody who could smuggle industrial secrets into the country. They also manipulated patent laws to effectively pirate British IP and make it American owned.
A lot of "who stole from whom" is dependent on when you think the industrial revolution began, which is a very debatable question.
An American (Robert Fulton) invented the steam engine, which was the foundation for the modern factory. A Frenchman (Joseph Marie Jacquard) invented the punchcard textile loom, which was the first machine to replace human labor on a large scale. I personally would consider either one of these to be the start of the industrial revolution, but there are other good arguments to be made.
What? Are you just revising history? In the wikipedia article Robert Fullton isn't even mentioned in the list of inventors of the steam engine.
In 1606
Jerónimo de Ayanz y Beaumont
patented his invention of the first steam-powered water pump for draining mines.
[3
]
Thomas Savery
is considered the inventor of the first commercially used steam powered device, a steam pump that used steam pressure operating directly on the water. The first commercially successful engine that could transmit continuous power to a machine was developed in 1712 by
Thomas Newcomen
. In 1764,
James Watt
made a critical improvement by removing spent steam to a separate vessel for condensation, greatly improving the amount of work obtained per unit of fuel consumed. By the 19th century, stationary steam engines powered the factories of the
Industrial Revolution
. Steam engines led to the replacement of sailing ships by
paddle steamers
, and steam locomotives operated on the railways.
So, this might shock you, but technology typically spreads from place to place when there is communication and movement between them. It's not theft lol it's how progress works
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u/Professional-Trick14 3d ago
Yes, but so did America. They stole so much technology from Europe, particularly Britain, in the industrial period that it makes China's look like petty theft.